


Harry's final journey

by LindyA1985



Series: Inktober 2019 [18]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Flufftober 2019, Inktober 2019, M/M, The Forbidden Forest, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-24 23:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21107492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LindyA1985/pseuds/LindyA1985
Summary: Harry Trembles when he looks up from the Pensieve, he can't believe he won't have a Future and Treads through the castle and forest to his own end. Three prompts, one story, in which Harry goes to face Voldemort during the Battle of Hogwarts to end the war once and for all.





	1. Chapter 1

Harry trembles when he lifts his head from the Pensieve. He can’t believe the memories he’d just witnessed. Snape had been in love with his mother. And friends with her for a long time. It’s crazy to think that the teacher that had always given him the most grieve in school had once been close to his own mother. Had even tried to save her, protect her in his own deluded way. Harry can’t really believe it. It all seems so irrelevant. In comparison what the other memories showed him. What it is he needs to do now to stop this war.

Slowly he turns back to the door and leaves the headmasters office. The stairs take him down the tower and when he stands in the corridor he pulls out his cloak and disappears from sight. He can’t stand the idea of talking to anyone now. He won’t be able to say what he’s about to do. Everyone will try to stop him. But Harry has no choice. Not when his next action is the only thing that will save this world from a madman who thinks he’s better than everyone else.

One step at a time he walks down the stairs, one floor after another. Would his parents be waiting for him when he reaches the end of his journey? Will he finally be able to get to know them in person? What will Sirius say when he finds out that Harry had been destined to die all this time. That there was no way around it, no magic escape. Harry hasn’t had a future since the day Voldemort came after him and cursed him with a part of his soul.

Harry shudders. How could he have lived with a part of Voldemort soul in his body for so long without noticing? How come Harry hasn’t gone mental? After all this time, all the fights and sacrifices of others. Harry closes his eyes and remembers the moment Sirius fell behind the fail, the sight of Lupin and Tonks, death on the floor of the Great Hall, close to the dead body of Fred. He remembers the others, his classmates, people he taught how to defend themselves during their fifth year. It hadn’t been enough. It would never be enough. Even now, when he’s about to make the same sacrifice, it won’t bring them back, it won’t make everything magically perfect.

Harry gives himself one more glance into the great hall. Watches how Hermione holds a crying Ron in her arms. Looks at her while her eyes search the hall. He can see the pain in her features while she takes in the dead. Harry looks to the side, sees Draco Malfoy sit to the side. His head in his hands, his blond hair falling around it. He looks lost, out of place in the hall with grieving people. For a moment Harry considers walking up to him and dragging him out of the castle with him. Let him see what he did, what the costs of his stupid principles are. But Hermione would realise that Harry will be the invisible force dragging Malfoy away and she would stop him.

Maybe one day Hermione and Ron will understand why he can’t say goodbye. Harry won’t be able to do what he needs to if he tries to say goodbye to them. And it’s for them that he’s going. So they can discover the love between each other. Grow old together and have lots of children. Harry wishes he could be around to see it all happen. Wishes he could maybe find a love like theirs for himself and start a family. His eyes slide back to Malfoy. It’s unfair that they will never get a chance. Why couldn’t Malfoy had been just a little nicer, why couldn’t he have figured out sooner that his father's ideas were insane and wrong. Why would the one kiss they shared next to a burning room of requirements be the only one they ever shared? Why can’t they have a future together?

A tear falls from Harry’s eye. He swallows away the lump in his throat and turns quickly. He needs to get out of the castle. Away from the people that he doesn’t want to leave behind. Away from his future. Because he doesn’t have one anymore. Not now that he will have to die to save everyone else.

Harry treads into the forest and takes off his cloak. Nobody will follow him now, or spot him from the castle. He remembers the first time he had to go into it for detention with Hermione, Neville and Malfoy. It had been kind of nice to walk the path with Malfoy next to him back then. Even though Harry had hated the boy back then. Harry doesn’t know when the hate had turned into something else. If it was when he had seen Malfoy struggle through sixth year, or if it was even before then. All he knows is that they keep circling towards each other, unable to stay away.

The stone in his pocket is a heavyweight. Will it truly work? Will he be able to see his parents before he has to go to his own end? Harry stops his treads and takes the stone in his hand. He turns it around and waits. His parents show up, just like Sirius and Lupin. They tell him to be brave, to be strong. Harry can’t do this. He’s not ready to die. Not now that he knows that Malfoy feels the same, wants him just as bad as he wants him. He can’t hurt Hermione and Ron like this, he can’t make Molly lose another son. She already has to go on without Fred, how can Harry make the pain even worse by leaving her too?

He falls onto his knees and vomits. A hand rests down on his back. It’s solid and warm. Not his parents shivers he’d just seen.

“Potter, have you gone insane?” a familiar voice says. “I didn’t save your life at the manor for you to throw it away now.”

Harry shakes his head. He can’t say goodbye to him if he’s here. He needs Malfoy to leave. He can’t have him stop him. Tears fall freely from Harry’s eyes. His body shakes. Malfoy pulls him close against him, holds him while Harry cries. He stays silent like he knows that Harry isn’t going into the forest because he wants to, but because he has to.

“Why do you need to go?” Malfoy asks when Harry’s tears start to die down.

“It’s the only way,” Harry answers. “He made Horcruxes.”

Draco tightens the grip of his arms that hold Harry. “And you’re one of them,” he whispers.

Harry nods his head. “I’m sorry.”

Silence falls again. They sit in the forest and find comfort in the short moments they have together.

“You have to go back,” Harry says when he knows he needs to get going again. He won’t let anyone else die for him, won’t let Voldemort hurt anyone else.

“I’m not leaving you,” Malfoy answers. “I won’t let you die alone in their camp. Don’t ask me to walk away, please Harry.”

Harry turns his head and kisses Draco. He doesn’t want to be alone. “Take my cloak, keep out of sight. Don’t you dare die tonight, I need you to live a good life for the both of us.”

“I will,” Draco tells Harry.

“And tell the others I’m sorry.”

Draco nods and takes Harry’s cloak. He disappears from view. Harry starts to walk again. He can hear Draco’s tread next to him. All the way into the camp they walk together.

When the end is near and Voldemort raises his wand Harry just needs to say one thing. He says them out loud for the first and last time, but he can’t die without Draco knowing.

I love you are the last words that pass his lips until the bright green light hits his chest. 


	2. Draco's hardest journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I love you
> 
> The last words Harry had spoken keep repeating themselves in Draco's head. He wants to say them back, tell Harry he feels the same. Only Harry will never hear Draco say them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I couldn't leave the story as it was. Even though we all know Harry doesn't stay dead in the forest, I still wanted to finish this little snippet with a happy end. So here you have the rest of the story throughout the eyes of Draco.

I love you

The last words Harry had spoken keep repeating themselves in Draco's head. He wants to say them back, tell Harry he feels the same. Only Harry will never hear Draco say them. Not while his eyes stare into nothing. Draco can’t look away from the body just a few feet away from him. Silent tears make their way towards Draco’s chin before they fall onto the forest floor. The cloak hides him from view and Draco tries his best to not break apart and give himself away. The Dark Lord would surely kill him on the spot as soon as he sees how heartbroken Draco is because of the death of Harry Potter.

Draco watches how his mother walks over to Harry’s body after the Dark Lord had asked someone to check if Harry is really dead. Draco doesn’t need his mother to confirm it. He had felt the spell race towards them, had seen with his own eyes how it had hit Harry on his chest. Draco had seen Harry’s eyes go blank and his body drop to the floor. Draco had to lean against the tree next to him to not fall to the ground the moment he knew the man he loved was dead. His heart is broken because he will never get the chance to tell Harry he loves him too.

For a moment Draco thinks he sees Harry move when his mother stands up. His eyes are closed now. Draco swallows away a lump in his throat. It almost seems like Harry is just asleep like he could wake up any moment. Draco wishes he’d figured it all out sooner then he did, so he could have had a chance to wake up next to a sleeping Harry.

The Dark Lord seems pleased. He probably doesn’t realise he just killed a part of his own soul. That the only reason Harry showed up here, willing to sacrifice his own life, was that it was the only way to completely kill the Dark Lord once and for all. Draco is sure Hagrid didn’t know. He had screamed at Harry, told him to fight or run. And now, he was sobbing so loud it was hard to hear anything else. With gentle hands, Hagrid cradled Harry’s body in his arms. Draco stays close to him when they walk towards the castle. Aunt Bella keeps dancing around them, overjoyed for her master. Draco hates her more every time she laughs. He can’t believe he once thought she was someone to look up to, someone to follow when the Dark Lord returned. He’d been such a fool back then.

When they reach the castle Draco takes his wand out of his robes. He looks at the Hawthorn wand, the one Harry took from him only a month ago. The one he gave back to Draco just now in the forest before they had reached the Dark Lords camp. Maybe Draco should use it. Cast an Ava Kadava at the Dark Lord and be done with it. But he isn’t sure if Harry was the last Horcrux. He must have been, right? If he was willing to give his life. Granger and Weasel didn’t seem to realise what Harry was doing, where he was sneaking off to. Did they know? Will they expect a dead Harry?

A crowd slowly walks out of the castle. They look at the group of Death Eaters in front of their door. They’re scared, move back when they see Aunt Bella dance with joy. And then the Dark Lord announces that Harry Potter is dead. Draco sees Granger grab Weasel’s hand, both of them stumble against each other. Girl Weasel screams and has to be stopped by one of her brothers to run at the Dark Lord. Did Harry ever even break up with her? Draco has no idea. He must have, right? He was clearly not in love with her anymore, not if the two kisses they shared tonight were any indication. And the way Weasel had reacted when Harry kissed Draco when they escaped the room of requirement, it wasn’t of someone angry at his friend for betraying his sister, no it was the anger of someone who knew Harry had feelings for Draco. Did Harry tell them that he loves Draco while they were on the run? Will they tell the world that Draco did everything he could to help them once he realised that he was stuck on the wrong side of this war? Will they believe Draco that Harry went willingly to his own death? Draco doesn’t know, all he knows is that he has to find Granger when all this is done to tell her that Harry was sorry he didn’t say goodbye to them. He needs to tell her how he broke down facing his own death, but that he still did what he had to and gave up his life to save all of them.

Longbottom walks away from the crowd when the Dark Lord tells them to join him. Some of his classmates yell at him to not do it and Longbottom shakes his head. He stops halfway and stands up against the Dark Lord, who puts a body-bind on the boy. He’s forced to wear a flaming sorting hat, but it doesn’t seem to harm him. Draco can’t believe his eyes when Longbottom shakes off the body-bind curse and pulls out the sword of Gryffindor. If Draco had known Longbottom had all this courage he might have bullied him less during their time together at school.

And then all hell breaks loose. The Dark Lord orders Nagini to kill Longbottom, only to have her lose her head and die. The Dark Lord screams and is ready to attack Longbottom when Harry jumps up. The Dark Lord turns towards him when he screams. Draco can’t think, can’t believe his own eyes. Harry isn’t dead. But he can’t be alive, Draco saw with his own eyes how he died, how his eyes went blank. But he’s moving and shouting. Telling the Dark Lord how he never learns, that he keeps making the same mistakes. Draco watches as Harry jumps around to avoid the Dark Lords spells. Merlin’s beard, Harry doesn’t have a wand because he gave it back to Draco. Without a second thought Draco pulls off the invisibility cloak and runs towards Harry. When he’s close enough he throws the wand and Harry catches it like a real seeker. The duel between Harry and the Dark Lord continues in a more even way until Harry casts an Expelliarmus as the Dark Lord casts Ava Kadava and the Dark Lord dies, falls down like any other human being hit by the killing curse.

The crowd around them cheers as the death eaters flee. Everyone makes its way towards Harry, but Harry’s eyes are locked on Draco’s. Draco storms towards him, his hand flying into the sky.

“You can not say something like that and then die on me, Potter! You should have given me the chance to say it back.”

A goofy grin forms on Harry’s face. “You can say it now,” he says.

Draco stops in front of him and grabs him by his shirt. A couple of wands around them raise in defence of Harry, only Draco doesn’t care. “I love you too,” he says before he slams his lips against Harry’s. Harry wraps his arms around Draco’s waist and pulls their bodies against each other. Draco is aware that Weasel is complaining somewhere to their left, something about getting a room, but he doesn’t care. The war is over, Harry is alive and in love with him. And that’s all that matters.


End file.
